Recent improvements in large language models (LLMs) have had a dramatic effect on capabilities and productivity across many disciplines involving critical thinking and writing. The development of the model context protocol (MCP) provides a way to extend the power of LLMs to a specific set of tasks or scientific equipment with help from curated tools and resources. Here, we describe a framework called TEM Agent designed for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) that leverages the benefits of LLMs through a MCP approach. We simultaneously access and control several subsystems of the TEM, a data management platform, and high performance computing resources through text-based instructions. We demonstrate the abilities of the TEM Agent to set up and complete intricate workflows using a simplified set of MCP tools and resources accompanying a commercial LLM without any additional training. The use of a framework such as the TEM Agent simplifies access to complex microscope ecosystems comprised of several vendor and custom systems enhancing the ability of users to accomplish microscopy experiments across a range of difficulty levels.
@article{arxiv.2511.08819,
title = {TEM Agent: enhancing transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with modern AI tools},
author = {Morgan K. Wall and Alexander J. Pattison and Edward S. Barnard and Stephanie M. Ribet and Peter Ercius},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2511.08819},
year = {2025}
}